Shock! Age Ratings Increase Violent Games' Allure

Remember how when you were a young whipper-snapper the 18 certificate on A Nightmare on Elm Street made you really want to see it? Well, a recent study suggests that high age ratings on games produces the same effect on today's youngsters.

The study, due for publication in the March issue of academic journal Pediatrics, tested 10 Dutch children aged between 7 and 17. It provided descriptions of fictitious games and asked participants to rate how much they wanted to play the game. In every group, the more mature the content the more participants wanted to play the game, apparently.

While the attraction to grown-up movies and TV provided by high age ratings has been researched before, the authors of the study claim the link has never been tested for games.

The researchers - Brad Bushman of the University of Michigan and Elly Konijn of VU University Amsterdam - suggest that classification boards rethink their ratings, which make certain games "unspeakably desirable."

They also take the hard line that kids should not be allowed to buy their own games. That, of course, should be entirely unnecessary given that age ratings are meant to stop retailers from flogging games to minors of an age below their classification. Figures from the US Federal trade Commission suggest that in the States, at least, retailers are improving on that.

The researchers also suggest that parents and (for some reason) physicians be made aware of the potential risks attached to certain games, which apparently include drops in performance at school.

Bushman, at least, would seem to be inclined to that kind of conclusion. Another soon-to-be-published study that he worked on (set for publication in Psychological Science this month) claims to prove a link between violent games and movies and desensitisation to real world violence. It would seem that gaming isn't one of his favourite pastimes...

^{Sources:
Chicago Tribune
The Inquirer}